Comment 41 for bug 433438

The workaround linked by manatlan is working but forces usb1 speed.

It seems that also adding the "acpi=force irqpoll" boot option (as described here: http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-fix-usb-stops-working-problem-in-ubuntu.html ) improves things a bit: it just revived my usb2 connectivity and seems to keep it working for now.

Could it be usb controller related (i.e. Intel ICH8)?
problematic ones on my system are
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)

While on an older system the ICH6 is working just fine
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 04)